Sports

New drivers bring a world of doubts

Is the influx of non-American open-wheel drivers into the Nextel Cup circuit the result of a lack of imagination on the part of NASCAR team owners or a sign that the sport is going global?

Four drivers — two Canadians, a Scot and a Virginian — weighed in during a break in testing of the Car of Tomorrow at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday.

Jeff Burton, from South Boston, Va., said car owner Chip Ganassi showed original thinking last year when he hired Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya to drive his cars, but now his fellow owners are just being copy cats. And, he said that as soon as one owner achieves success with a newcomer from another venue, the trend will shift again.

"It's a monkey-see, monkey-do sport," Burton said. "There's not a lot of creativity in our sport."

Jacques Villeneuve, a Quebec native and former Formula One champion, said the latest change to the face of NASCAR is simply a reflection of the growth of the sport.

"It's a natural evolution," he said, pointing out that many sponsoring companies now are international in nature and that any thriving sport will have to be worldwide in its reach.

Villeneuve was participating in his first test at AMS, as were fellow Quebec native Patrick Carpentier and Edinburgh, Scotland's Dario Franchitti.

All three will be rookies next year in Nextel Cup.

Burton said that while the sport should be open to any driver, he worries that too many foreign faces might alienate NASCAR's traditional fan base.

"At what point do we not have enough American drivers to attract the American fans?" he said. "That's a conversation that should be had. ... I don't know how you would limit it, and you shouldn't limit it, but it does have some negative consequences, as I think we've seen in other forms of motorsports.

"We are American fans and for the most part like to pull for American drivers."

Franchitti said NASCAR fans don't have to worry about the sport losing its American look. "NASCAR is always going to be predominantly U.S. drivers," he said. "I don't see that changing ... and that's good for the sport."

Although Villeneuve, Carpentier and Franchitti all come to NASCAR with impressive credentials, they have lots to learn about NASCAR racing, as evidenced by their testing speeds in the Tuesday morning session.

Carpentier, driving the No. 10 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, was the fastest of the three but was only 36th on the speed chart. Villeneuve, in a Bill Davis Racing No. 27, was 41st, and Franchitti, in Ganassi's No. 40, was 46th.

Burton has work to do, too. He was 28th in the Tuesday morning session, which was led by Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry that he'll drive next year.

Rick Minter writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.